I have become a caretaker of a Betta named Anchor. I have no fish experience and for the record feel awful that Anchor is experiencing my learning curve. I didn't get time to research fish care before I was suddenly in charge and now the little fella is not doing so well. I will list the course of events as best as I can as to give you all the information needed to help me figure out what to do.
About 4 weeks ago my daughter brought home a betta in a cup from Wal-Mart. With it she had gotten an "aquarium," barely 2 cups of water! So anyway, he lived in that for about 4 days until I could not stand it any longer and I bought him a 2.5g plastic tank that has a filter system and light. I remembered having fish when I was a kid and we cleaned the tank like once a month so I was thinking I had some time before I would be cleaning this one too.
Well, Saturday I noticed Anchor was laying on the rocks so I changed the water right away using Tetra's water conditioner as well. Sunday there was no change so I went to PetsMart and spoke with an employee. They said he was not able to breath because of not having a water change - she said I should have been changing it every 3 days. She said there was nothing I could do for him but start changing the water regularly and hope he pulls through.
Now, he is still occasionally laying on the rocks but usually just hides behind the filter just floating. He has lost his brilliant color. He swims frantically when he does get up and isn't hardly eating a thing. He seems to be keeping his fins tucked close to his body as well. When he does lay in the rocks he appears to rut himself into them wedging himself under a tree. My heart just aches. I have been on as many websites as I can find about this little guy and I just don't know what to do next. The only thing I can think of is that he is suffering from Septicemia due to my negligence.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
About 4 weeks ago my daughter brought home a betta in a cup from Wal-Mart. With it she had gotten an "aquarium," barely 2 cups of water! So anyway, he lived in that for about 4 days until I could not stand it any longer and I bought him a 2.5g plastic tank that has a filter system and light. I remembered having fish when I was a kid and we cleaned the tank like once a month so I was thinking I had some time before I would be cleaning this one too.
Well, Saturday I noticed Anchor was laying on the rocks so I changed the water right away using Tetra's water conditioner as well. Sunday there was no change so I went to PetsMart and spoke with an employee. They said he was not able to breath because of not having a water change - she said I should have been changing it every 3 days. She said there was nothing I could do for him but start changing the water regularly and hope he pulls through.
Now, he is still occasionally laying on the rocks but usually just hides behind the filter just floating. He has lost his brilliant color. He swims frantically when he does get up and isn't hardly eating a thing. He seems to be keeping his fins tucked close to his body as well. When he does lay in the rocks he appears to rut himself into them wedging himself under a tree. My heart just aches. I have been on as many websites as I can find about this little guy and I just don't know what to do next. The only thing I can think of is that he is suffering from Septicemia due to my negligence.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
